WB_VOICE/PAGES [A01] | 07/03/10 22:08 | SUPERIMPWB

SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2010

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Northeastern Pennsylvania’s New Frontier

Battling for
gas, riches
in Wyoming
By Patrick Sweet | Staff Writer

Natural gas companies have acquired the mineral rights to

nearly two-thirds of Wyoming County in less than five years
and now they are eyeing the rest.
“Our world, right now, is Wyoming County,” said Steve
Myers, director of Land and Legal Affairs for Citrus Energy
Corp.
Strong gas production from wells in the northern part of
the county has sparked stiff competition between gas com-
panies trying to lease as many acres as they can.
“Obviously, (you get) good competition when you’ve got
good production in an area,” Myers said.
Many companies, Myers said, are eagerly waiting to see
MARK MORAN / THE SUNDAY VOICE how wells in the southern part of county near Noxen on
Jody Stash with her son Darius look over a roadside memorial in honor of her mother who was the Wyoming-Luzerne border produce as they battle for the
struck and killed by a motorist on Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre. county’s remaining acres. The Pennsylvania Department

DISPLAYS
of Environmental Protection granted Chief Oil & Gas a
permit on June 15 to begin drilling a well on Robert Long-
more’s 97-acre Noxen farm.
Further south, Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. will begin
drilling the first exploratory well in Luzerne County as
early as next week.
The potential for rich gas strikes in the Marcellus Shale

OF GRIEF
beneath Wyoming County has driven gas companies to lease
over 165,000 acres, roughly 63 percent of the county, since
Oct. 19, 2006, a Sunday Voice review of 4,110 gas leases in the
county revealed. That’s more than five times the 30,000 acres
leased in Luzerne County.
See WYOMING, page A8

Roadside memorials pit emotions, safety and law Wyoming County’s largest leases
More than 4,000 properties in Wyoming County have
By Bob Kalinowski | Staff Writer remind other motorists to slow down. been leased for gas drilling so far, totalling 165,084 acres.
Laws allowing or barring such roadside memorials
A list of the 50 largest leases is on Page A8. A complete
Tears rolled down Karen Patterson’s face as she touched vary from state to state as supporters and critics debate
database of leases is at citizensvoice.com/drilling.
the white cross bearing her husband’s name. their appropriateness and transportation officials weigh
She remained silent for the 50-yard walk back to her car roadway safety against sensitivity to the families left Property Owner Acres Townships
as vehicles whizzed by on state Route 118 in Lehman behind.
Thomas Family Trust 13,627 Forkston, Noxen
Township. The issue recently erupted locally when the Bear
“It never gets easier,” Patterson says. Creek Township Volunteer Fire Department ripped down Intl. Development Corp. 13,627 Forkston, Noxen
The cross marks the spot where Patterson’s husband, and trashed a memorial in front of its fire house on state Arlene Traver, Ryvamat Inc., 7,448 Eaton, Forkston,
Joel, died in a head-on car wreck on April 15, 2002 when a Route 115, saying the four years it was there was long and Raegayle LLC Noxen
woman swerved in front of him trying to avoid a rear-end enough. D&L Realty 2,205 Eaton
crash in her lane. Patterson said she was “furious” when reading about Proctor & Gamble 1,409 Washington
Families like the Pattersons place similar home- the Bear Creek incident and she posted a comment to
The Citizens’ Voice online story to defend such displays Endless Mtns. Hunting Club 906 Eaton, Forkston
made memorials along highways, rural roads and
after several other comments criticized them. Endless Mtns. Hunting Club 707 North Branch
city streets across the nation to help grieve and
remember loved ones. Some simply place them to See MEMORIALS, page A8 Willis K. Bennett 675 Windham
Veto & Dorothea Barziloski 619 Eaton,
Tunkhannock
Evelyn & E.J. Polovitch 529 Unspecified

More on the Marcellus Shale

Online: View a database of
more than 6,000 gas leases
in Luzerne, Lackawanna
KRISTEN MULLEN / THE SUNDAY VOICE

The state Department of Transportation al- A display at the spot in Wilkes-Barre where
MARK MORAN / THE SUNDAY VOICE
and Wyoming counties at
lows unobstructive memorials like this one Amber Seeman was killed in a 2007 car
near Interstate 81 in Plains Township. crash.
citizensvoice.com/drilling.
ADVERTISEMENT

Lawmakers approve fiscal bills

Rendell expected to sign budget Tuesday D-Butler Township, who
inserted the restitution fund

By Robert Swift
Harrisburg Bureau Chief
HARRISBURG — Lawmak-
ers completed work on the
state budget Saturday approv-
ing a key fiscal bill and autho-
rizing the borrowing of $600
million to fund community
development projects.
The fiscal bill sets up action
this fall on a natural gas sever-
ance tax and creation of a leg-
to the $28 billion budget start-
ing Tuesday. The governor had
delayed signing the budget bill
approved last Wednesday until
the fiscal bill reached his desk.
The fiscal bill establishes a
$500,000 state fund to provide
restitution to Luzerne County
residents who were victims of
juvenile crime, but didn’t
receive any court-ordered res-
titution because of legal fall-
out from the Luzerne County
Patio P
into the fiscal bill. At Harveys Lake
a k e IItt A atio
The state Supreme Court
will appoint a special master
to oversee restitution pay-
Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman
Township, said she hopes the Make
M
ments from the new fund for
these crime victims who were
restitution fund is just the first
of the numerous recommen- G r a n d Slam
Grand S l a m SSummer!
ummer!
dations made by the Inter-
affected when the same court
Arcade
Lakeview Deck
branch Commission on Juve-
vacated convictions of juve-
nile offenders sentenced
nile Justice, which examined
the breakdown of juvenile jus- Dining Area Bar
wrongly to a juvenile deten-
tion center by former judges
tice in the county, to be imple- for the over 21
mented. w/smoking
Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and
Michael T. Conahan. When the
Much of the House floor The Grand Slam permitted
convictions were vacated, the
debate focused on a compro-
mise declaring the intent of
Sports Bar

99
islative fiscal office. courthouse scandal. The resti- restitution awards were, too.

¢ 2 Kids Meals
the House and Senate leader-
With lawmakers leaving tution fund will be supported The victims will get a prop-
ship to pass separate bills by
town after approving budget- financially through a transfer er compensation through the
Oct. 1 to levy the severance
related bills, Gov. Ed Rendell is
expected to sign measures tied
from the state Crime Victims
Compensation Fund.
fund, but not a free lunch, said
House Majority Todd Eachus, See BUDGET, page A4 Every Sunday!
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 WB_VOICE/PAGES [A08] | 07/03/10 20:32 | SUPERIMPWB

A8 THE SUNDAY VOICE SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2010

Memorials: Balancing grief, safety and the law

FROM PAGE A1
“The way everyone grieves is dif-
ferent,” Patterson, 39, of Hunlock
Township, said.

A mother’s grieving ground

For Gerri Grimes DeAngelis, the
roadside memorial along Route 115
in Bear Creek Township was her
place to pay respects to her son, Jes-
se.
The cemetery in East Stroudsburg
is too scary, she says. She has never
been there.
Jesse, 24, died Jan. 22, 2006 when
his car hit black ice, struck a ditch
and tumbled. The Scranton man was
ejected from the vehicle and died at
the scene, right in front of the town-
ship fire hall.
Grimes DeAngelis, 56, avoided the
road for two years. Then, one day the
family gathered at the crash site
with a simple white heart, which
included the words son, brother, and
daddy and a posthumous poem
Grimes DeAngelis wrote to her son.
They nailed the wooden heart to a
tree at the roadside, hoping it would
remind drivers to slow down on one
of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s
deadliest roads.
Family members regularly visited
the memorial to place fresh flowers
and pay their respects. Their only
addition to the memorial was a bird- MARK MORAN / THE SUNDAY VOICE
house made in pre-school by Jesse’s Karen Patterson kneels at a roadside memorial to her husband, Joel, who was killed in a crash on Route 118 in Lehman.
son, Jamie, who was 18 months old
Northeast Sign Service in Luzerne, roads free of distractions. about them will live on. Patterson’s memorial along Route
when his father died in the crash.
contacted the family and offered to Some states allow the homemade “You’re looking at a nexus 118 is on private property owned by
It’s all gone now.
create a permanent memorial as a memorials, but place restrictions between state law, grief and what Big Ten Subs and Pizza, which has
In early June, members of the
replacement near the crash site. regarding the size and number of people consider appropriate or allowed the display for eight years.
Bear Creek Township Fire Depart-
They are working with PennDOT feet away from the roadway they inappropriate memorializing,” he It’s a simple white cross made by an
ment dismantled and trashed the
and hoping for a mid-July dedica- should be. Many states erect uni- said. Amish man from Lancaster that
memorial, saying it was erected on
tion. form state-issued memorials for Jipson noted in 2007 Delaware bears her husband Joel’s name. She
fire company property without per-
The sign will say: “The family of families with a standard safe-driv- created a safer place for people to adorns it with fresh flowers through-
mission and they had allowed the
family ample grieving time. Jesse Grimes reminds you to drive ing message and the victim’s name. mourn — a memorial garden off out the year.
“That hurts. That’s all I can say. It safely.” The Governors Highway Safety Delaware Route 1 and U.S. Route 13 “The cross means something to
had so much meaning,” Grimes Association, which represents the with trees, a pond, a waterfall and a me. I hope it helps people realize
DeAngelis said. “To treat something Rules of the road interests of state transportation place for the names of crash vic- they need to slow down,” Patterson
like that with so much disrespect, Each state has its own laws agencies, takes positions on issues tims. Still, the roadside memorials said. “The thing that is so ironic is
that’s hurtful. It was a place where regarding roadside memorials on like drunken driving and texting continue to pop up along the high- people still fly by like it’s nothing.”
I’d go sit and think about him. It was state property. For example, in New while driving, but has stayed clear ways, Jipson said. Joel, 31, was driving to work April
my place to go.” York they are illegal, but in New of the debate over roadside memo- “The parks have been successful, 15, 2002 when the crash occurred. He
As it turns out, the fire company Mexico it’s a crime to remove or rials, said spokesman Jonathan but it hasn’t replaced memorials had just passed the sub shop, travel-
may have been mistaken when it deface one. Adkins. along the side of the road and it ing east toward Dallas. A line of cars
asserted private property rights and In Pennsylvania, roadside memo- “We don’t think there’s a wrong won’t,” Jipson said. “That spot were backed up in the westbound
ripped down the display, state offi- rials technically are not allowed. But answer for states, and they have to where the person died is sacred to lane with one waiting to pull into the
cials confirm. the displays are certainly tolerated. determine what’s best for them,” the person who a erects a memorial. restaurant parking lot. A woman
Along that stretch of road, the “There is no set policy in general. Adkins said. It’s literally sacred ground.” approaching the backup suddenly
state owns all land 50 feet from the PennDOT tries to acknowledge that Even in states where they are swerved into Joel’s lane to avoid a
center of the road in case the Penn- survivors need time to grieve,” said outlawed, few are willing to enforce Memorials matter rear-end crash, instead causing the
sylvania Department of Transporta- Rich Kirkpatrick, a spokesman for the prohibition, according to Dr. Art Jodi Stash often visits the place fatal head-on crash that took Joel’s
tion needs to perform shoulder work PennDOT in Harrisburg. “As long Jipson, a sociology and criminal where her mother was struck by a life.
or widen the road, said Karen as it’s not posing a safety hazard, we justice professor at the University hit-and-run driver and left to die in The spot draws different emotions
Dussinger, regional PennDOT allow them to stay for a period of of Dayton in Ohio, who has studied 2006 along Pennsylvania Avenue in every time Patterson visits. The fam-
spokeswoman. time. We try to be sensitive.” roadside memorials for more than a Wilkes-Barre. She maintains a ily mourned here prior to Joel’s
Some believe the tree in question In its policy regulating items decade. memorial with a wooden cross, flow- funeral service. One day, Patterson
is in the state’s right-of-way, but placed on state rights of way, “Who wants to be the legislator er pots and angel figurines. sorted through grass, weeds and dirt
PennDOT officials last week said PennDOT says any item not who says, ‘I’m against memorials.’ “I feel more at peace here than the to collect pieces of the car Joel was
they were unable to make a determi- approved by the department can be No one does,” Jipson said. cemetery,” Stash, 25, of Edwards- driving and place them in plastic
nation for this story. removed. However, it acknowledges Jipson noted roadside memorials ville, said. “This is where I come. I bags for keepsakes.
Grimes DeAngelis is determined it doesn’t have the resources to do have critics who repeat a similar feel I’m making a difference people Patterson said an odd twist of the
to place another memorial in the immediately remove every unap- refrain: mourn in a cemetery, not in can see. They slow down and stop tragedy is Joel had brought up the
area of the crash to caution other proved item, such as roadside public. and think.” topic of roadside memorials just two
drivers about the possible fatal con- memorials. The policy says an item “You have people who don’t Stash’s mother, Joan Kukosky, 45, days before he died. As the couple
sequences. should be immediately removed if understand the same sense of loss. was walking along South Pennsylva- drove along a nearby road close to
“That road is so dangerous. He it obstructs or interferes with a traf- For them, being reminded of mor- nia Avenue near Dana Street just Penn State Wilkes-Barre, Joel saw a
was definitely going way too fast, but fic control device or is in the way of tality and violent automobile acci- after midnight on May 7, 2006 when memorial and said, “I would never
he wasn’t the only one who flies on PennDOT road work. dents is uncomfortable,” Jipson she was clipped by a Jeep Wrangler, be able to go on a road if that ever
that road,” Grimes DeAngelis said. “It kind of comes in the cate- said. which fled. Kukosky died two days happened to you.”
“My main thought doing a memorial gory of political signs on the Over the past 10 years, Jipson later from head trauma. The driver It took a while, but Patterson
was more to just try to make people road,” Dussinger said. “It’s not has interviewed the creators of later turned himself in and was sen- gained the strength to go on this
think for a second and drive safer. I legal, but not illegal if it doesn’t 409 roadside memorials across tenced to one to four years in prison. road.
did not want another mother to go compromise safety.” the country. He is planning a book “I want to show other people what
When state of ficials make “It’s not a place of grieving. It’s a
through this.” on the topic to be published in could happen,” Stash said. place of remembrance for me,” she
After hearing about how the fire rules regarding the displays, 2011. Jipson said roadside memo- Stash said she’s thankful Wilkes- said.
company discarded the homemade they try to balance the grief of rials have been around for centu- Barre City has allowed her to main-
memorial, Michael Rosencrans, of survivors with the need for safe ries and the intrigue and debate tain the memorial on city property. bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2055

Marcellus Shale Northeastern Pennsylvania’s New Frontier

Wyoming: A windfall for landowners, negotiators

FROM PAGE A1 the landowners in the group
The two largest parcels
Largest leases in Wyoming County leased for exploration in
was paid $2,850 per acre and
will receive 17 percent of
Wyoming County straddle royalties from future gas
More than 4,000 properties in Wyoming County have ly expanded database at citizensvoice.com/drilling and the border between Noxen production.
been leased for gas drilling so far, totalling 165,084 acres. check out our new Well Permit Database, which maps and Forkston Township. Earning even a larger
Get information on the more than 6,000 gas leases in every Marcellus Shale drilling site in Pennsylvania. The International Develop- windfall was the gas compa-
Luzerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming counties in our new- Here are the largest gas leases in Wyoming County: ment Corp. leased the miner- ny president who negotiated
al rights to a 13,627-acre prop- the deal. Chris Robinson of
Property Owner Gas Company Acres Townships
erty to Silenus Land Solu- Raegayle LLC of Pittsburgh,
Thomas Family Trust, William W. Thomas Jr. Anchor OGM LLC 13627 Forkston, Noxen tions Inc. in May 2008. Less who earned $88.50 per acre,
International Development Corporation Silenus Land Solutions Inc. 13627 Forkston, Noxen than a year later, the Thomas a total of at least $1.35 mil-
Arlene Traver; Ryvamat Inc.; Raegayle LLC Unit Petroleum Company 7448.13 Eaton, Forkston, Noxen Family Trust and trustee lion.
William W. Thomas Jr. leased Multiple attempts to reach
D&L Realty Magnum Land Services LLC 2205.64 Eaton Township
another 13,627-acre property Robinson were unsuccess-
Proctor & Gamble Paper Products Co. Citrus Energy Corporation 1409.29 Washington Township in the same area to Anchor ful.
Endless Mountains Hunting Club Limited Chesapeake Appalachia LLC 906.03 Eaton, Forkston OGM LLC. Myers said Citrus had a
Endless Mountains Hunting Club Limited Chesapeake Appalachia LLC 707.52 North Branch Township But the most active gas good working relationship
Willis K. Bennett Chesapeake Appalachia LLC 675.87 Windham Township company in the county is with Robinson because of
Chesapeake Appalachia Robinson’s experience in the
Veto M. and Dorothea Barziloski Magnum Land Services LLC 619 Eaton, Tunkhannock LLC, which has signed 2,714 industry.
Evelyn J and E.J. Polovitch The Keeton Group LLC 529 Unspecified leases totaling more than “He’s actually an oil and
Frank R. Talucci Chief Exploration & Development LLC 506.86 Forkston 71,400 acres, roughly 43 per- gas producer,” Myers said.
Donald L. and Arthur W. Sherwood Magnum Land Services LLC 503.26 Eaton, Tunkhannock cent of leased land. “We had a one-on-one nego-
Chesapeake, along with tiation and he just took it
C. Clark and Helen Garrison Keeton Group LLC 500.92 Lemon, Washington Citrus and Unit Petroleum back to the g roup and
Omega River Farm Keeton Group LLC 459.33 Mehoopany Township Co., benefited from large answered the hundreds of
Jennie Bartron Magnum Land Services LLC 446 Lemon, Tunkhannock, leasing deals with the Wyo- questions. It was quite effi-
Washington ming County Gas Group. In cient.”
J Stark II and Jennie Bartron Magnum Land Services LLC 446 Lemon, Tunkhannock, 2008, the landowners group Robinson is president of
and Belmont Resources LLC Washington leased nearly 16,000 acres to Ardent Resources, a gas
Citrus and Unit, including a company also based in Pitts-
Judy and Jennie Bartron Magnum Land Services LLC 446 Lemon, Tunkhannock,
and Belmont Resources LLC Washington nearly 7,500-acre property burgh, which, Myers said,
spreading across Eaton, does much of its work in
Jennie Bartron and Janice Gay Magnum Land Services LLC 446 Lemon, Tunkhannock, Forkston and Noxen Town- New York.
and Belmont Resources LLC Washington ships owned by Arlene Trav-
er and Ryvamat Inc. Each of psweet@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2117